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M.B. Feeney: From Fanfiction to HONOUR

Today we have with us M.B. Feeney, author of the new novel Honour, a collection of six short stories with a military theme. Like me, M.B. started in the fanfiction world and has made the jump to publishing, and she's with us now to talk a bit about what that was like for her. Enjoy!

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What was it like for you moving from fanfiction to publication?

Firstly, please let me thank you for hosting me as part of the tour. Honour is quite a personal book and I am nervous and excited for people to read it.
I came into the world of fanfiction later than a lot of people. I spent a bit of time ‘working’ on a couple of blogs that would review and rec fics that were little known, but after they both closed, I wasn’t very active and I was considered what is known as ‘small fry’ and my stories didn’t generate much attention. I was completely fine with this as I’d never expected much, I just enjoyed writing.

I wrote fic solidly for about 2 years, mainly one shots as I was a bit rubbish at updating multi chaptered stories, not that anyone noticed or complained. I enjoyed it, but after a while, I wanted more.

Leaving the fanfiction world was easier than I thought. I didn’t have anyone clamouring for me to continue the stories I’d left unfinished or get FB messages telling me they missed my writing. I didn’t make a song or dance about it; I simply slipped away quietly and began working on my own original work.

It took me another year to actually get anywhere seriously with my writing as I was studying for my degree (I still am) and didn’t have much time to write for long periods of time. I attempted NaNoWriMo two years in a row and failed miserably. These ‘novels’ are still sitting on my hard drive waiting for me to go back to them and finally finish them.
When I finally finished an entire story and decided to approach a publishers, it was made very easy for me as a Facebook friend had set up a publishing house with friends and she’d encouraged me to submit to them and they would look at it without allowing our friendship impacting on any decisions they made.

From then on, it was a whirlwind of skype calls, contract signings, and editing leading up to the release of my first novella, Right Click, Love.

All in all, I had a very easy ride of it, yet I still wanted to try the avenue of self-publishing as I’d heard mixed messages about the process. Hence the self-publishing of Honour.

Summary:

The world is filled with people destined to help and to serve. Doctors, nurses, police, and firefighters—each and every day, these special people work to help others in times of need. Often, this means putting their own lives at risk in order to do their jobs. They give of themselves to benefit society, and they do it without any expectation of thanks.

And then there is the military…

These are the men and women who don’t head home to their families and safe homes to relax at the end of a shift. They are on the front lines, far from home and often fighting someone else’s battles because it is the right thing to do. Military families struggle to cope with the constant worry and the long periods of separation, staying strong to support those who serve in everything they do, and often are left to pick up the pieces when the highest price is paid.

Servicemen and women are heroes in the purest sense of the word. Even when the world’s gone mad and their hearts are breaking, one thing remains unchanged.

M. B. Feeney is an army brat who finally settled down in Birmingham, UK with her other half, two kids and a dog. Currently at university studying for her BA (Hons) in primary teaching, she procrastinates on her assignments by listening to music of all genres and trying to get ‘just one more paragraph’ written on whichever WIP is open. She is also a serious doodler and chocoholic. Writing has been her one true love ever since she could spell, and publishing is the final culmination of her hard work and ambition.

Her publishing career began with two novellas, and she currently has a novel under way whilst Honour, a compilation of her own military based shorts, is due for release 1st November 2013. Always having something on the go can often lead to block which eventually gets dissolved by good music and an even better book.